And the poor or under-served students the coalition schools are looking for are those with some proven potential, depth and breadth, the sorts who would thrive with the next level of academic challenges and make good use of support. (Same as they look for now.) There are many good mentoring programs that give bright, accomplished, low SES kids a leg up, an opportunity to think through the college goals and how to reach them. But not enough. And many depend on volunteers. Many great kids are left without that help.
Why not offer some tools for the thinking, the self evaluation and goal setting- and that later help with pulling the application together? It can be used in conjunction with adult support or individually.
Look at the list of the member schools. No directionals (though some have pre-professional programs,) 70%+ grad rates. Plus the aid component. (Those eliminate plenty of colleges and universities.) Mostly, the sort of colleges that require some reasonable 3 or 4 year strategy for admit success.
I don’t know if this will work or be another hare-brained attempt du jour. None of us know if the right sorts of analysis and critical thinking went into it. But some here are mighty quick to dismiss it, before we know much. Many of us on CC are already thinking for our kids when they reach 9th, if not sooner. Admit it or not, we help hone their thinking. Why settle for, “Well, no one helped me?”